Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will return to the point Deputy Paul Donnelly was raising. It is my experience on this committee that when we deal with any issue that crosses multiple Departments, problems and complications arise, which simply would not happen if there was a very clear demarcation of responsibility. We are dealing with a scenario where obviously the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has a very clear role and the Department of Rural and Community Development seems to have a less clear role and then the role of local authorities is mixed so it is almost as if there are three Departments involved. I note from some media reports that the staff of the dog control unit in the Department of Rural and Community Development have raised concerns about where they are. What does Ms Bristow consider to be the best way to approach this issue holistically with respect to what type of structure should be in place? My view is that local authorities have a very important role to play. They are the bodies that are on the ground with staff on a county-by-county basis so should there be a role for them at State-wide level and how should it operate if we were starting with a blank sheet?

Finally, I understand Dogs Trust Ireland is a charity and there are a number of different charities, which I am sure all have their own distinctions in terms of policy priorities and so on. Again, it has been my experience that when a public service, which is essentially what we are talking about here, is outsourced, even to charities, problems arise, errors can happen or gaps will emerge. Is there a way whereby all the charity organisations and other stakeholders can work together such that the work of ensuring dogs, the public and everybody else are kept safe and that these things are happening in a transparent and clear manner, is guided at departmental level?